SCOLOPACIJJ^ : THE SNIPE FAMILY. 



617 



The Terekia cinerea of various parts of the Old World, with tlie IhII recurved almost as in an 

 avocet, stands between the godwits and tattlers. 



c. The Sandpipers (Tringa, etc.) are a rather extensive group, notahle for the variation 

 in minor details of form, that it shows with almost every species — a circumstance that has 

 caused the erection of a number of unnecessary genera. Here the bill retains much of the 

 sensitiveness of a snipe's, and the gape likewise is much restricted ; but the bill is much 

 shorter, averaging about equal to the head. One trivial circumstance affords a good clue to 

 this group : the tail-feathers are plain-colored, or with simple edgings, while iu almost all 

 the species of other grou2)s these feathers are barred crosswise. In this group the seasonal 

 changes of plumage are very great ; the proportions of the legs, and webbing of the toes, are 

 variable witli the species, but, as a rule, the toes are cleft to the base (not so in Mieropalama 

 and Ereunetes), and four in number (except Calidris). The sandpipers belong particularly 

 to the northern hemisphere, and breed in high latitudes; they perform extensive migrations, 

 and in winter spread over most of the world. Among tliem are the most diminutive of waders. 





i 



Fig. 433. — American Snipe, abont g nat. size. (From American Field.) 



They are probably without exception gregarious, and often fleck the beadi in vast multitudes; 

 tliey live by preference in open wet places, rather than in fens and marshes, and feed by prob- 

 ing, like snipe ; the voice is mellow and piping. They are pretty well distinguished from 

 both the foregoing, though Mieropalama connects with the snijie through Macrorhamphus; 

 liut shade directly into the Tattlers, through such genera as Tryngites and Tringoides. Nearly 

 all the forms of sandpipers are described in detail beyond. There are in all about 20 species. 

 The only generic form not rcspresented in this country is the Limicola platyrhyncha , the 

 peculiarity of whicli is expressed in its name. The Eurynorhynchus pygmceus, a wonderful 

 and exceedingly rare species, in which the bill is expanded and flattened at the end, somewhat 

 88 in the spoonbill, lias lately been stated to occur on our Arctic coast. The singulai' Machetes 

 pugnrix should perhaps rather come here than among 



